Cruel Summer (Bananarama song)

"Cruel Summer"
Picture sleeve for European and Australasian 7-inch releases
Single by Bananarama
from the album Bananarama
B-side"Cairo"
Released27 June 1983
Genre
Length
  • 3:35 (album version)
  • 4:55 (dance version)
LabelLondon
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Jolley & Swain
Bananarama singles chronology
"Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye"
(1983) 		"Cruel Summer"
(1983) 		"Robert De Niro's Waiting..."
(1984)
"Help!"
(1989)
"Cruel Summer '89"
(1989)
"Megarama '89"
(1989)
Music video
"Cruel Summer" on YouTube
Music video
"Cruel Summer '89" on YouTube

"Cruel Summer" is a song by English girl group Bananarama. It was written by Bananarama and Steve Jolley, Tony Swain, and produced by Jolley and Swain. Released in 1983, it was initially a stand-alone single but was subsequently included on their self-titled second album a year later. The song reached number eight on the UK Singles Chart in 1983 and the group appeared on the BBC's Top of the Pops that summer (July 1983), and after its inclusion in the 1984 film The Karate Kid, it reached number nine on the US Billboard Hot 100.

Bananarama singer Sara Dallin said the song "played on the darker side (of summer songs): it looked at the oppressive heat, the misery of wanting to be with someone as the summer ticked by. We've all been there!"[4] It was ranked number 44 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the '80s.[5] Billboard named the song number 13 on their list of the "100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time".[6]

  1. ^ Rolling Stone Staff (25 June 2022). "The Best Summer Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 10 September 2023. ...this is essentially the British synth-pop answer song to Lovin' Spoonful's "Summer in the City"
  2. ^ Billboard Staff (10 July 2017). "100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time: Critics' Picks". Billboard. Retrieved 17 May 2024. Bananarama's signature '80s hit pulls it off by marrying a pitch-perfect vocal of resentful teenage ennui with a fantastically funky electro-pop bounce...
  3. ^ "New Wave Music Songs". AllMusic.
  4. ^ Rogers, Jude (22 July 2009). "What makes a great summer pop hit?". The Guardian.
  5. ^ "VH1: 100 Greatest Songs of the 80's". Rock on the Net. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  6. ^ "100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time: Critics' Picks". Billboard. Retrieved 11 July 2017.